"L'heure du berger" - Lithographie originale sur Japon - L'Estampe Moderne

Rare original color lithograph executed by Hans Christiansen for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 11 published in March 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with large margins, laid paper mounted on Japan paper, artist's signature in the plate, publisher's blind stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin, numbered luxury edition stamp on the verso; print preceded by a tissue guard inscribed with the artist's name, title and a poem; blank tissue guard.
Lithograph inspired by an extract from a poem by Paul Verlaine, reproduced on the print's tissue guard.
Magnificent French monthly publication issued between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consisted of original chromolithographs which, unlike other periodicals such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specially by each artist for the periodical. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Epoque. Each issue of four prints was printed in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with large margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on the most prestigious paper: Japan. Thick, silky, satiny and pearlescent, it contributes to making each page a work in its own right. Its ink absorption quality and its affinity with colors also make it the ideal support for these very beautiful lithographs.
French collectors' interest in artistic posters intensified at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to characterize this fever, invented the term "affichomanie." The poster, originally popular and pasted on the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral medium became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the rank of a complete work of art on the same level as the deluxe illustrated book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Handsome copy in the Art Nouveau style.